Unbound
by flightshep
Summary: Fang and Vanille are trapped in crystal stasis after the destruction of Cocoon and have visions of the real world. How do they cope with the others moving on while chaos threatens to tear the worlds apart? Alternate ending, hints of Verah and FLight/FangRai.


**Thank you to freestylesmile for beta-ing this! Written for last-hunters (xxDster). Happy birthday, D!**

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They had seen this world once before. From beyond the clutches of the Unseen Realm and the realm of the living, they slept in it, dreamt in it, and _lived_ in it.

Their first crystal sleep had been dreamless; the once-powerful Goddess made sure of that. At the merciful whim of Etro, Fang and Vanille overlooked six long centuries of havoc as destruction laid waste upon their home by the wounded forces of Cocoon; revenge for the carnage of Ragnarok on the low-hanging moon.

This time it was different.

Beyond the grassy expanse, cliff-bound passes and Titan-sized mountains, they were forced to watch as their new family struggled in the new world, and what they saw cut deeper than the Goddess could ever hope to reach.

Fang marched swiftly through the flowery field and slowed her pace to a stop at the edge of a fast-flowing river. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the near-identical landscape on the other side. The river had once again widened to a near impossible width, like it did with every one of her visits. Any attempt to swim across would no doubt end in her death.

Could she die in crystal sleep? Fang didn't want to test it. Not with Lightning waiting for her.

Yes, she was aware – her and Vanille both. They were trapped in a realm of distorted time where they once lived out centuries in blissful ignorance and unawareness – like a dream. However, this time there was no blessing from the Goddess Etro to protect them from visions of the visible world. They could see anything and everything, but accomplish nothing.

She scanned her surroundings, disgusted at the cheap imitations of her home – looking for another way across the river. She found nothing. The river stretched infinitely, dividing mountainous hills into wide crevasses and cliffs. Vanille had really outdone herself.

Tiredly, she turned to face the bank opposite her.

"Vanille!" she shouted, then took a step closer to the running water.

The river's torrential flow increased visibly. It seemed Vanille's will to keep her away greatly outmatched her own will to see her sister again.

A soft rumble shook the skies and Fang watched as a rift tore through thin air to reveal yet another vision of the living realm through the fissure. Whether it was an event of the past, present or future, she didn't know.

A dull ache began to consume her as familiar figures appeared amongst the clouds before her. She watched Serah turn the corner of a makeshift church, clad fully in white and smiling cheerfully through the blanched veil that curtained her face, and approach the blonde man betrothed to her at the altar.

"No…" Fang whispered, almost pleading.

A bitter thought crossed her mind. There was no one to plead to; the Gods and Goddess were beyond her pitiful prayers.

The ground shook violently and she was forced to take a step back when the river water took to the skies, coalescing as a furious, swirling mass. The clouds darkened around the rift and trees swayed at its roots under the influence of the hurricane that was beginning to form. Booming thunder haunted the skies and lightning rained down mercilessly on the tall grass around her, yet Fang felt safe. They could never hurt her.

Vanille could see it too. Fang knew her sister was watching, and like any other time they were forced to peer through the rift, the power Vanille harnessed would increase.

Tangent to the heavens, Serah's blurry figure ran merrily into the open, inviting arms of Snow. The silence of the vision was deafening despite the crashing thunder. A blinding bolt of lightning struck and charred a tree in the far off distance when the newlywed couple embraced in a tender kiss.

Where was Lightning?

Fang looked to the clouds when pelting drops of rain invaded her thoughts, courtesy of the swirling, wet column towering the sky. She lost her footing and her backside met the cold, damp grass beneath her when the ground rumbled and quaked at its largest magnitude yet. The riverbanks collided, closing the gap where the water once moved freely, and Fang scrambled hurriedly to her feet should Vanille change her mind.

Fang ran across the wet terrain in search of her sister, desperately calling Vanille's name through ragged breath. She spotted a small opening amongst some sizeable cracks on a rocky cliffside and heaved a sigh of relief. Vanille never liked storms.

The cave was dark and damp. The petrichor intensified as Fang ventured further into the lightless cavern. She turned a serrated corner, grateful the footing wasn't as rough, and froze at the sight of a small fire in a spacious opening on the other end of the narrow cave walls. The _drip drop_ of water onto the rocky ground from hanging stalactites complimented the quiet sobbing that echoed all around her.

"Vanille?" she asked, worried. The sobbing ceased immediately.

Fang squeezed herself into the narrow opening and inched her way through. She stopped when the sharp, protruding edges that dug into her back and abdomen became too much.

"A little help?" she grunted.

It was seconds before the ground groaned in protest as the narrow walls diverged to allow Fang to move through freely. Vanille's mysterious powers were unsettling. It was a dark, tainted power that strengthened with every opened rift, and ill-suited for one such as Vanille.

Fang found the younger girl with her back pressed against the far wall of the opening, legs cradled to her chest and head buried between her slender arms as she sobbed quietly.

"Vanille…" Fang sat and pulled her sister into a protective embrace, shaken at the sight of Vanille so broken. Vanille remained in Fang's comforting arms and the two sat comfortably in front of the crackling fire until eventually her sobs lulled to a quiet sniffling.

"We all knew it would happen," Fang said gently. Vanille lifted her head from Fang's chest and her eyes met Fang's, a bemused expression on her tear-stained face.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, the usual perkiness gone from her voice.

Fang sighed. "Look 'Nille, Serah was engaged to Snow long before she met you. The whole l'Cie mess was just a setback. It didn't change anything."

A firm shove from the younger girl broke their embrace and Fang grimaced when her hands met the rocky ground. Vanille stood, horrified at what she'd just heard.

"How can you say that?!" she shouted.

Fang glanced nervously around the cavern before she stood and returned Vanille's offended look with a resolute one. She took a step forward and reached for the smaller woman's shoulders. Vanille slapped her arm away angrily.

"You saw it too! She waited for me, Fang, and I never came back because I'm stuck here!" Vanille gestured around wildly, referring to the unknown realm rather than the makeshift hiding place she made for herself.

Fang waited for Vanille to fall to pieces and break into tears, or even create another cleft in the rock shelter to escape through. What she didn't expect was for the shorter girl to step forward and shove her _hard_.

Fang lurched a few paces back, a look of bewildered shock on her face in the dim light of the glowing fire. Vanille had never done that to her – to _anyone_ – before.

The redhead stomped towards Fang, then reached out and grabbed hold of the blue sari. Fang swallowed nervously and resisted the urge to look away from the sullen peridot eyes. She wasn't afraid _of_ Vanille, she was afraid _for_ her. The dark power the younger woman harnessed was beginning to consume her, and Fang could sense her sister give in to the taint with every vision that appeared in the sky.

"It's because of you!" Vanille said as she hammered a fist down onto Fang's chest. "We could have found another way; you didn't have to listen to Orphan, we didn't have to become Ragnarok!"

Fang blinked back tears, yet she couldn't bear to look away from Vanille's miserable eyes. Vanille was fighting a losing battle and Fang would be there for her, even if it meant watching the younger woman fade away into nothing. She owed Vanille much more than that.

Fang was jostled back and forth as Vanille struck her with both fists this time. The younger woman was stronger than she looked.

"It's _your _fault we're here, and it's _your_ fault Serah married him!" Vanille accused, her conviction unwavering.

Vanille's eyes were clouded over; a dark murky green instead of the bright olives they used to be, and for the first time in a long time, Fang shed a tear. The smarting pain in her chest from Vanille's repeated blows was replaced by a dull ache once she realized the corrupt energy possessing her sister had already won. Vanille wasn't coming back.

Fang clutched her sister to her chest, and the other woman froze.

"You didn't have to become Ragnarok with me, 'Nille," she wept. "I could've done it on my own, why'd you have to do such a stupid thing?"

Fang continued to cry as Vanille stood utterly still, completely unfazed by her remorse.

"You know exactly why," the redhead said dryly.

Indeed Fang did know. Had she kept her screams silent under Orphan's torture, Vanille would never have agreed to become the other half of Ragnarok and Cocoon would not have fallen out of the sky... but failure meant becoming Cie'th and Fang would rather bear the weight of Ragnarok a second time than watch Vanille lose her humanity.

Only one other understood the burden of shouldering a younger sibling's Focus. If Fang would tear down the sky for Vanille, then Lightning would rip apart the heavens for Serah. Had the younger Farron's Focus been to destroy Cocoon rather than save it, Lightning would fell the low-hanging moon a thousand times over.

It would have taken a miracle to save Vanille… to save Lightning, and Fang simply didn't believe in miracles at the time… she still didn't. Only Vanille believed in such a thing.

"I gave us a fighting chance, Vanille. None of us are Cie'th," Fang whispered. "Remember the first vision?"

The moment the Pulsian siblings became aware of their crystal sleep was when the first rift mounted the heavens. Fractions of Cocoon lay in craters spanning multiple weeks worth of travel, and they watched in bittersweet sorrow as survivors were pulled from the wreckage. Any guilt Fang harboured for destroying the Fal'Cie Orphan had dissipated when, one by one, her family's crystal statues were rescued.

They watched Lightning and the rest wake from crystal sleep, watched them recover then join the rescue efforts, and watched them rebuild towns and cities from the ground up and start life anew on Gran Pulse.

Vanille remained painfully still in Fang's embrace, but the older Pulsian continued to speak.

"You said it was a miracle that brought them out of crystal, and that another would wake us from ours. Don't you still believe that 'Nille? Don't you?" Fang whimpered.

Fang wanted to look again into Vanille's eyes, to try and find her sister in the taint, but she was too afraid to let go. Vanille remained a statue in her quivering arms.

"No," came the cold reply.

Fang nearly fell to her knees. It was only due to Vanille's stubborn immobility that she remained standing. "There is no such thing as a miracle," Vanille said dryly, her voice muffled against the fabric of Fang's sari. It was the same tone Lightning used to use, and Fang was struck with both nostalgia and fear. "Serah waited for me. Snow built her a home, a school, a new life… yet she refused to marry him. She was waiting for me, Fang. If I was meant to wake up, I would have a long time ago."

"It could still happen," Fang cried, not fully believing her own words.

The shorter girl extended her arms and shoved hard enough to duck out of Fang's grasp and send the older woman sprawling to the ground.

"It doesn't matter now, Serah's done waiting and I don't blame her," Vanille spat.

Fang blinked away her tears and watched the dim light of the fire dance across the younger girl's indifferent features. She was vaguely aware of a dark aura surrounding Vanille; a dense black fog that was different from the smoke rising from the flames, and tried mightily to steel her expression.

"Are _you_?" she asked. "Are _you_ done waiting?"

Vanille neither confirmed nor denied, and for a second Fang had hope. Her hope was quickly shattered however, when the next words escaped through Vanille's snarling slips.

"Get out," she ordered.

Fang flinched at the harsh command and her eyes widened in shock when loose debris fell around her as the cave shook. Fang stood to her feet and made for the narrow opening through which she entered the cavern, but not before sparing Vanille a second glance.

The rift was still open when Fang exited the cave. She ignored the merry sight of the wedding celebration and raced in the opposite direction from the still-raging storm. Fang vaguely remembered a waterfall, though it had been so long since before Vanille created the divide and cast her out. She wondered if the cataract was still intact.

Thunder roared overhead as she raced the dark clouds. Vanille would never hurt her, she chanted over and over again like a mantra. The burning sensation in her legs as she ran told her otherwise. Why was she running if she had nothing to fear?

A second rift opened above her and Fang slowed to a stop. She witnessed a crowd amass at what appeared to be a memorial for The Fall, and amongst them her family. She had never seen so many people dressed in black before… she had never seen Lightning cry before.

Telling signs of age were visible on the soldier's features. Her shoulders slumped; weary yet alert, and subtle gray hairs hid amongst her vibrant pink strands. How old was Lightning in this vision?

Fang's breath hitched and she raised a hand to stifle a sob when a small pigtailed, pink-haired child joined Lightning's side. The soldier knelt and kissed the little girl's forehead affectionately and grinned when another small child – with blonde hair this time – ran to her side. Judging by the twins' small size, it couldn't have been over than a lustrum since they were born.

Lightning stood, one girl at the end of each hand, and marched over to the waiting couple. Snow had aged since the wedding – they all had. His hair was cut just above his ears and he sported a short boxed beard. His eyes spoke tales of sadness but also of great adventure. He pouted at the light punch Lightning threw in greeting before he was dragged away by his two little girls.

Lightning smiled and awkwardly manoeuvred Serah in for a hug, careful of the large bulge on her sister's lower abdomen. Serah was pregnant again.

Fang tore her eyes away from the rift and searched frantically for the black smoke that encompassed Vanille amongst the dark clouds circling above her. She prayed to whatever gods who cared to listen that Vanille was still hiding deep in the confines of the cavern, that she didn't see the merry consequence of Serah's choice to spend the rest of her days with Snow.

Fang faintly registered a blinding flash of light before suddenly, her world turned gray. She couldn't tell which way was up and which was down. Her vision tunneled and her mind reeled as it tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Her eyes were open but she couldn't move as she lay in the wet, saturated grass. Raindrops pelted her body but aside from the urge to vomit, Fang felt nothing. It was silent, save for the drumming of her irregular heartbeat resounding in her ears, and for a brief moment, Fang thought she was flying.

A familiar flash lit a forest in the distance and cleaved a colossal tree. Seconds later and the smaller bisection toppled miserably to the ground.

Fang's body quaked as she choked on the blood accumulating in her throat. She couldn't feel her legs and she wondered if they were even there at all. She may not have been a thousand year old tree, but in the face of nature she was no more than flesh, bones, and a tough mask; feeble and pathetic.

She didn't have a clue as to how long she laid there for, or when the raging storm finally cleared, but a numbing sensation had begun to spread and replace the sharp pain in her upper body. A single thought echoed the confines of her mind and it razed her emotions, the same way the lightning ravaged her body. _Vanille struck me,_ she repeated to herself. _She hates me_.

The heinous black smoke appeared in the corner of her vision. It was the last thing she saw before succumbing to sleep.

Fang awoke, weightless and tranquil before a glowing, ethereal presence. She felt like flying again, but memories of Vanille succumbing to the taint kept her grounded. She glanced down at her unconscious body; bloody and battered in the dried-up mud, then returned her gaze toward the patient being.

Beneath the layers of artificial serenity the Goddess forced upon her, Fang was very, very angry. Had her mind not been host to a nest of bitter memories and sour thoughts, she might have appreciated the Goddess' otherworldly beauty.

Etro appeared before Fang as a vaguely humanoid wisp of light. She was formless, yet her projection was unmistakable. Fang fell to her knees, languid and drained as the last of her fury seeped out of her body before the divine deity. She was tired of fighting, tired of losing.

"Save her," Fang begged, referring to Vanille.

"I cannot," replied the Goddess. The words echoed in Fang's mind, meant for her and her alone. "I cannot save her from herself."

Fang's face twisted in confusion. "I don't understand…"

"As the protector of world balance, I placed a piece of chaos inside each human; I gave humanity its _heart_. Your sister; she is too weak, unable to harness her inner chaos."

Etro's voice was a soothing whisper. It battled against Fang's abysmal emotions as everything she believed to be "the truth" crumbled to nothing. The gods were fighting a much bigger battle and humanity was of little to no importance. How naïve she was to believe they could defy fate and win.

"I am dying. The balance between the Invisible World and the Visible World must not be disrupted. Humanity needs a saviour."

Fang perked. "I'll do it," she volunteered, resolute. She would feel helpless no more.

"Though your intent is good, my child, you are not the saviour this world needs."

Fang hung her head and the excitement she felt earlier was as gone as the lightning that left her body tattered. The Goddess turned away.

"Tell me," she said. "Do you wish to save Vanille? Do you wish to see _her_ again?"

Lightning… was Lightning who the Goddess wanted? Was Lightning the saviour?

Treacherous tears ran down her face onto the grass beneath her palms. Like Vanille, she had long cast aside any hopes of them returning, any faith she ever had in the gods. But as Fang knelt before the Goddess Etro she felt that hope slowly return.

"What do I have to do?" she asked.

"Chaos is unbound and the physical world will soon exist as a timeless realm, merged with Valhalla. Before that happens, the Saviour must be exposed to chaos. She must learn to harness it before it consumes her, like it will everyone else."

The Goddess lifted her gaze to the heavens and Fang followed suit. The sky blurred in an agonizingly familiar fashion and a rift once again mounted the sky. Lightning appeared in all her glorious beauty, as young as the day Fang met her, restless and anxiously waiting for the younger Farron to wake from her crystal slumber.

"The gates to the Unseen Realm must remain closed," explained the Goddess. "However, chaos entered this realm when I released your friends from crystal imprisonment."

"So you're saying-"

"If you wish to save your sister – if you wish to save _humanity_ – then you must call chaos upon the Saviour."

Fang gritted her teeth. The choice was obvious but the task, difficult. She would rather condemn the woman she loved to servitude than watch her submit to death. She couldn't let humanity fall victim to chaos… she couldn't let Lightning end up like Vanille.

"Lightning… she won't be consumed by the chaos?" Fang asked. She had to be sure.

"The Saviour is strong," Etro replied.

Fang nodded, perturbed the Goddess avoided her question, but she truly believed Lightning could save them all.

"Think of the saviour, call upon the strength of your bond, and I shall do the rest."

Fang closed her eyes and immediately Lightning appeared before her as a sad, blurry memory. The moment she first laid eyes on the soldier, she knew there was something special. The way her edgy pink bangs danced across sharp azure eyes, the cavalier tilt of her chin as she spoke in her usual cold manner; it was all too tantalizing. Fang didn't think twice about leaving Snow and Hope in the dust to follow her.

She remembered her humble apology and the backhand she received from the soldier after it. She remembered Lightning's words, encouraging yet stern, when Bahamut came to put her out of her misery and the hand the soldier extended in offering. She could still feel Lightning's hands on her body...

A familiar recollection played in her mind and tears cascaded to the hard ground beneath her. When Lightning handed back her lance in Orphan's Cradle with a humble, apologetic look on her face, Fang knew nothing could stand in their way. What she wouldn't give to battle alongside her lover again...

They were in sync, her and Lightning; neither hesitant to place their life in the other one's hands. She remembered diving off the airship and how Lightning quickly followed suit without a second thought. She knew Lightning would shoot her eidolith before she even tossed it. They were _perfect_ for each other, _meant_ for each other.

For a long while she sat, replaying the memories in her mind, until there was nothing else to remember. Her eyes slowly blinked open and she wiped away at the wet streaks on her face.

Etro was gone and the realm was quiet. She no longer felt the overbearing uneasiness... the taint was gone.

The breach between her world and Lightning's began to fade, and Fang watched the familiar dark mass snake behind her lover, unravel, and mercilessly consume her. She watched Lightning struggle and cry for help, watched her lover reach out to the younger Farron before she was pulled from the Realm of the Living.

Guilt localized deep in her gut and she prayed the Goddess knew what she was doing. Fang would soon come to know; only a fool believes in the Goddess' ways.

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**Critical reviews are welcome.**


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